Author and psychiatrist, J.S. Breving
stops by to chat about his debut novel, The Machinations. He opens up about
what he was like growing up, how being a psychiatrist influenced his writing,
why he chose to debut a novel in the Sci-Fi genre and who he would trade places
with in Star Wars: Luke or Anakin Skywalker.
Annabell: Tell us a little about yourself
(stuff not found within your mini-bio on your site). Feel free to divulge any
strange quirks, OCD like habits, nerdy collections—we welcome all types of
nerds at TeamNerd *wink*
J.S. Breving: I guess I grew up caught between two
worlds: the sports world of my father and the arts world of my mother (acting
in the local community theater). I tried to fit into the sports/popular crowd, but it was an
unqualified failure. I played a different sport every season growing up and
even played baseball in college. Nevertheless, I was always the kid at parties
standing in the corner by himself. It took many, many years before I figured
out that I was much happier sitting at home watching a movie or reading a book.
Eventually, I quit torturing myself trying to be “cool” and accepted myself for
what I was, a nerd-alien. It was quite liberating.
Annabell: You are a psychiatrist. What
prompted you to into the field of psychology and what do you love most about
what you do?
J.S. Breving: I was shy growing up and
stayed mostly to myself. Once again I tried to fit in, but it just wasn’t
happening. Being introverted in an extroverted society was difficult. I was a
bit of an outcast but couldn’t figure out why. When I got older, I wanted to
know why I felt the way I did: the kid at parties standing by himself in the
corner just observing. Now even though we sometimes try to ignore it with
technology and diversion, life boils down to human interaction. The psychology
that I espouse is British object relations theory, which is all about human
interaction. I guess that is what I love about psychiatry/psychology, the
understanding of human interaction, and through the understanding being able to
help other people.
Annabell: Break down what happens in your debut novel, Machinations. Who are the main players? What are some obstacles
they will have to face? Is there romance?
J.S. Breving: There are two disparate
worlds and therefore two main characters as Machinations
is written in the first person. The world of Drew takes place in a rural
agrarian town, Eastern, that could be the 1800’s but Eastern has unique
technology that hints at something amiss. Now Drew is a curious boy by nature
constantly asking questions and getting into trouble. His best friend is Anjali
who lives on an adjacent farm. Drew is like Anjali-lite. She is spunky and has
the potential to really stir the pot. They have a pure, platonic love between
them and their questions lead them into big-time trouble as they try to find
out the truth about the cloistered town of Eastern.
The other story line takes
place a thousand years in the future and follows Varik Vermillion, a child
prodigy astrophysicist. He is tenured and in his 20’s and is riding on a
dysphoric high. He leaves academia in a dramatic meltdown steering his life
towards ruin. He is a tragic character that unsettles the reader. There is
romance between Varik and Marion, an environmental scientist, but the questions
is can Varik pull it together to sustain a real relationship.
The crux is these two
worlds are interconnected and when the earth of the future faces the threat of
alien invasion, both worlds are threatened with annihilation.
Annabell: Machinations, dives
into the science fiction genre. What made you decide to create a story within
the sci-fi genre and how did your background in psychology manage to help
inspire the characters?
J.S. Breving: It sounds trite, but the
story kind of chose me. I actually wrote an unpublished novel that is
semi-autobiographical before Machinations.
It was very thinly veiled biography of my life. It was brutally honest and
something I don’t think I’ll ever publish because it would be too painful for
me and others, mainly my family.
However, with the first
book out of my system, I felt freed to write a fresh novel. I didn’t
necessarily have a plan to write another book, but the story kept on coming to
me in dreams at night and even during the day. The story wanted to be told. In
a sense I felt a little like a vessel, but don’t take me too literally on that
one.
As for my psychology
background, I tried to really get inside the mind of the two main characters. I
think writing from the point of view of Drew and Varik forced me to put myself
in their shoes and experience what they were experiencing. I kind of left my
psychology background at the door and let the story unfold. My cerebral mind
played more of a part in the editing process.
Annabell: Varik is a child prodigy, being accepted into college at eleven,
gaining tenure at seventeen. He doesn’t exactly possess the qualities of a
swoon-like hero and also acts as one of the narrators to the story. He is very
much flawed and doesn’t know how to fix the messes he creates. Why did you
choose to approach his character as an anti-hero? How do you relate to him
and/or what he goes through within the story?
J.S. Breving: I think there is a yin
and yang contrast between the two main characters. Drew is a pure untainted
child who is quite likeable and a bit of a clean slate. However, Varik is Drew
15 years later if everything went wrong. The purity of Drew is a nice contrast
to the conflict within Varik. There is both good and bad in Varik and being
told in the first person, I hope that the reader sees the struggles unfold
right before their eyes. I think it is quite unique to see a change from child
to adult (even though he is about 25) in the story. Varik has a delayed
entrance into adulthood because of all the pressure placed on him as a child
prodigy.
As far as how Varik relates
to me, let’s just say like everyone else I have both good and bad inside of me.
Annabell: Drew was your favorite character to write in Machinations and I am curious to learn as to why? I know you
enjoyed portraying the innocence of his relationship with Anjali because of its
purity. But why specifically did you enjoy Drew’s character so much? What connection
did you feel with him that you can think readers will relate to as well?
J.S. Breving: I touched on it before
when talking about Varik, but I think there is a yearning in everyone to return
back to their childhood, when everything was simpler and the weight of the
world was off your shoulders. In creating Drew and writing from the first
person I could kind of go back in time and revisit my own childhood. It was an
escape and something I needed in my life at the time.
Annabell: I read that you spent eight years working Machinations. A month to write it but eight years to edit it (six
months where your lovely wife had the task of helping to edit the book after
iUnverse returned it to you pointing out every flaw needing fixing). You said
you had yet to learn what makes a book become popular, what exactly gives a
book that spark that transcends to readers so powerfully to make them want to
pass the word along to others. In now having published the book and gaining
interest from the outside world, have you gotten any closer to discovering an
answer?
J.S. Breving: I often think about fame
and the kind of celebrisized-culture we have created in the United States. I
often ask myself why did these people become famous, why not one of the other
random actors/writers in NYC who is presently waiting tables and struggling.
I think that the people
who become celebrities (for the most part) need to become popular. They need
the fame to complete themselves, like lock and key. In other cultures where not
as much importance is placed on celebrity, it is probably not the case. But I
think the people that have a huge need to be filled inside of them, fill it.
Now take my words with a grain of salt, because once again I am on the outside
looking in, wishing I was on the inside.
But in the end, I am
really no closer to the answer.
Annabell: The world within Machinations deals with not just science but
also politics, to how enticing power can be and how it can make a man more
ignorant than wise. Why was including the various political at games played
within the story line so important to the plot? What is a lesson you hope
readers come to grasp?
J.S. Breving: All in all, I try to let
the characters play out their little dramas and try not to make too many of my
own political leanings come to the forefront. That being said, Machinations does not depict a
flattering picture of politics a thousand years from now. Not surprisingly, I
am a bit of a cynic when it comes to politics, so the math is pretty straightforward.
Similar to my views on celebrity, I think the people that need, really need to
be powerful and in politics find ways to make it happen and its probably not
even conscious. In the year three thousand, politicians are like celebrities
but I don’ think it’s so different today.
The politics in the novel
are integral to the story, because the political scheming is pushing the world
to the brink and intimately related to the alien invasion. And in the end, it’s
not about the aliens but the political machinations driving it all.
Annabell: I read the inside glimpse to the first chapter on Amazon of the
book. The writing is beautifully done and wonderfully intelligent. Eight years
of work has proven to be well worth it ;) Who are some writers that have
inspired or influenced your style of writing, your voice as an author? What is
about these authors or their work that inspired you so?
J.S. Breving: I have varied tastes. I
grew up reading the Travis McGee Series
by John D. MacDonald, basically because my dad read them. If you have had the
pleasure of reading one these books you will definitely see a little Travis
McGee in Varik. MacDonald writes from the first person and McGee is a bit of a
beach bum, narcissist, part-time philosopher detective. Other influences are
Steinbeck, Faulkner, Dickens, Dumas and Salinger. Some of their seminal works
have heavily influenced Machinations: The Count of Monte Cristo, Great
Expectations, Catcher in the Rye. The lead characters in these books can be considered
conflicted at the very least and more likely akin to anti-heroes similar to
Varik.
Annabell: As a child (and even as a grown up now), you were (and still are)
a huge fan of Stars Wars. If you could trade places with either Luke or Anakin
Skywalker, which character would you want to play and why?
J.S. Breving: I think this is a great
question the more I think about it. Drew in Machinations
is a little bit like Luke and Varik is like Anakin. So the question would also
be would I want to be Drew or Varik. I would definitely want to be Drew/Luke,
with all the possibilities in the world ahead of you. However, it might not be
so bad to be Varik/Anakin after all the dust clears. But even at the end of Machinations the dust is yet to clear,
because there are two more novels in the trilogy coming soon!
Annabell: Thank you to Author J.S. Breving for stopping by TeamNerd and for
the wonderfully insightful interview into his debut novel, The Machinations!
About the Author: J.S. Breving was born and
raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a psychiatrist in Brooklyn, New York, who
writes novels in his spare time. When he’s not workingm he enjoys married life,
living in Brooklyn Heights, and watching the Xavier University Museteers play
basketball.
Where to Find the Author
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